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Home ► Recipes ► American

Honey Garlic Shrimp

Updated: 01.25.25 | Marc Matsumoto | Leave a Comment

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With plump juicy prawns glazed in a sticky honey garlic sauce, this easy honey garlic shrimp recipe comes together in minutes from a handful of pantry staples.
Recipe Video
This easy honey garlic shrimp is coated in a mouthwatering sticky garlic glaze, and yet it comes together in minutes from just a handful of pantry staples.

Honey Garlic Shrimp

Honey garlic shrimp combines the pungent flavor of browned garlic with the sweet, sticky texture and taste of caramelized honey, coating plump, savory shrimp in a glorious glaze. 

Ten minutes and a handful of ingredients is all you need to put this honey garlic shrimp recipe together, which makes this a great weeknight meal, but it's not all about convenience. Take one bite, and you'll agree that this delicious shrimp dish tastes like a lot more work went into it; this one's bound to become a favorite weeknight dinner recipe! The best part is that there's a lot of room for variation by changing the protein and seasonings, so have fun with it and make it your own!

Jump to:
  • Honey Garlic Shrimp
  • Why This Recipe Works
  • Ingredients for Honey Garlic Shrimp
  • How to Make Honey Garlic Shrimp
  • Variations on this recipe
  • Serve it With
  • 📖 Recipe
  • Comments

Why This Recipe Works

  • The shrimp is pan-fried to brown it (but not cook it through all the way). They finish cooking in the sauce. The browned shrimp juices add flavor to the honey, while the reducing sauce helps cook them through without overcooking.
  • The sugar in the honey caramelizes, adding a wonderful flavor to the sauce while forming a thick glaze that enrobes each succulent shrimp.
  • This is a basic recipe, but it's also delicious and easy, and it only takes minutes to prepare. You can use this simple shrimp recipe as a starting point to let your creativity roam. Keep reading for suggestions on substitutions and variations.
Caramelized honey and pungent garlic come together to make a sticky honey garlic glaze for this easy shrimp recipe.

Ingredients for Honey Garlic Shrimp

Dry White Wine - No need to get fancy or expensive here I used a $6 bottle of Spanish table wine, but anything that's not too sweet (like a sauvignon blanc, or pinot gris) will work.  

Honey - I recommend using honey with a relatively mild flavor, like Acacia honey. More potent honey, like buckwheat or eucalyptus, can overpower the prawns. 

Salt - I wanted the flavors of the honey, garlic, and juicy shrimp to be the stars of this dish, so I used salt to season it. There's room to be creative here, though, using other seasonings, such as soy sauce, fish sauce, or miso.

Olive Oil - I used olive oil because it's a "clean" oil, but you can use anything from vegetable oil to unsalted butter and it should work well.

Garlic -  Nothing fancy here, but using a ton of fresh garlic is the trick.

Shrimp - I used black tiger prawns for this, but any large raw shrimp will work. In terms of size, I used jumbo shrimp (21/25), but if you can find bigger ones, that will work even better. Frozen shrimp will also work just fine. I have an in-depth article on selecting and cleaning shrimp that will give you confidence when buying and preparing them, so go check that out for more info.

Crushed Red Pepper - I like to add pepper flakes to give the sauce a little kick while adding a splash of color. You can also add a few drops of your favorite hot sauce or just leave it out altogether. 

Lemon - I like the fresh flavor and balancing tartness a squeeze of lemon adds at the end, but this is a totally optional garnish. It's also delicious with a squeeze of lime. If you want to give it some more lemon/lime flavor, you can also use a Microplane to grate in some zest into the delicious sauce.

Parsley - I used flat-leaf parsley because it's what I have growing in the herb garden right now, but tarragon, cilantro, and basil are just a few other herbs that would add extra flavor to this. 

Shrimp with honey garlic sauce garnished with parsley and lemons.

How to Make Honey Garlic Shrimp

First, make the sauce by mixing the white wine, honey, and salt in a medium bowl.

Mixing white wine and honey to make the sauce.

Then, you want to sauté the minced garlic in the olive oil over medium-high heat until it's very fragrant and barely starting to turn a light shade of brown around the edges. You don't want to brown the garlic fully, or it will burn and get bitter by the time the shrimp is done.

Sautéing garlic in olive oil.

Next, add the uncooked shrimp to the hot skillet in a single layer. The garlic tends to get sandwiched between the prawns and the pan, so move them around to ensure they're making good contact with the pan.

Shrimp and garlic frying in a pan.

Once the shrimp is cooked about ⅓ of the way through (you can see it changing color in 1-2 minutes), flip them over and sprinkle on the crushed red pepper flakes. You don't want to cook them through fully at this stage as it will finish cooking in the sauce.

Tossing shrimp and garlic in a plan.

Add the sauce and turn up the heat to high. Let the sauce reduce until it forms a thick glaze, then return the partially cooked shrimp to the pan and coat them evenly with the delicious sauce. Because some prawns can be very salty, I've limited the salt in this recipe. Give it a taste and add more salt if necessary.

Honey garlic sauce caramelizing around shrimp in a pan.

Serve the honey garlic shrimp garnished with chopped fresh parsley, lemon wedges, and steamed rice.

Variations on this recipe

  • Asian Honey Garlic Shrimp -  Substitute 2 teaspoons of soy sauce for the salt. It would also liven up fried tofu.
  • Honey Garlic BBQ Shrimp - Substitute 2 tablespoons of ketchup for the wine and add a few drops of liquid smoke and black pepper to taste. This would be delicious with chicken as well.
  • Honey Mustard Garlic Shrimp - Add a tablespoon of dijon mustard to the sauce to make a delicious honey mustard sauce. Try it with pork for a sweet and savory treat.

Serve it With

I like to keep things light and fresh to complement the sweet and savory flavors of this Honey Garlic Shrimp. One of my go-to sides is a crisp, No-mayo Cole Slaw. The crunchy texture and citrusy dressing perfectly contrast the tender shrimp. If you want to stick with the seafood theme, try pairing it with a Kani Salad - the combination of crab and cucumber will add a cool, creamy dimension to your meal. Speaking of creamy, Hawaiian Macaroni Salad, with its velvety texture and subtle sweetness, echoes the tastes in the honey garlic sauce while adding a comforting, homey touch to the plate. Don't for the white rice to go with this, and if you want to kick things up a notch, turn the rice into my Japanese Garlic Rice. 

📖 Recipe

This easy honey garlic shrimp is coated in a mouthwatering sticky garlic glaze, and yet it comes together in minutes from just a handful of pantry staples.

Honey Garlic Shrimp

By: Marc Matsumoto
No ratings yet
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Prep Time 5 minutes mins
Cook Time 8 minutes mins
Total Time 13 minutes mins
Yield 2 servings
YouTube video

Units

Ingredients 

  • 2 tablespoons dry white wine
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 15 grams garlic (2 large cloves garlic minced)
  • 300 grams shrimp (15 jumbo)
  • ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • Flat-leaf parsley (for garnish)
  • Lemon (sliced for garnish)

Instructions

  • Make the sauce mixture by combining the 2 tablespoons dry white wine, 2 tablespoons honey, and ¼ teaspoon salt in a bowl and stirring until the salt and honey dissolve.
    Mixing white wine and honey to make honey garlic sauce.
  • Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat and then add the 1 tablespoon olive oil and 15 grams garlic. Sauté the garlic until it's fragrant and just starting to turn a light brown around the edges.
    Sautéing garlic in olive oil.
  • Add the 300 grams shrimp and spread it out in a single layer. Let it fry until it's cooked about ⅓ of the way through. Cooking time will vary depending on the size of your prawns, so look for them to turn orange. 
    Shrimp and garlic frying in a pan.
  • Flip the prawns over, then add the ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper.
    Tossing shrimp and garlic in a plan.
  • Add the sauce and turn up the heat to high to quickly reduce the sauce into a thick glaze.
    Honey garlic sauce caramelizing around shrimp in a pan.
  • Serve garnished with chopped Flat-leaf parsley and Lemon slices, accompanied by white rice.
    Garnishing honey garlic shrimp with lemons.
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Nutrition Facts

Calories • 278kcalCarbohydrates • 20gProtein • 31gFat • 8gSaturated Fat • 1gPolyunsaturated Fat • 1gMonounsaturated Fat • 5gTrans Fat • 0.01gCholesterol • 242mgSodium • 480mgPotassium • 458mgFiber • 0.4gSugar • 17gVitamin A • 149IUVitamin C • 2mgCalcium • 114mgIron • 1mg

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Marc Matsumoto

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I’m Marc Matsumoto, a former chef raising a family in Tokyo, Japan. I believe anyone can become a great cook with the right ingredients and a few techniques, so I created No Recipes to help you unlock your culinary potential!

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